By Pam Martens: April 3, 2014 Michael Lewis is getting a dose of the backlash typically reserved for Wall Street whistleblowers. To judge from the reaction to his new book, “Flash Boys,” which lays out how the stock market is rigged by high frequency traders, you’d think that his charge that the U.S. stock market has been corrupted is the fanciful musing of an unhinged mind. Lewis underwent a prosecutorial style interview on CNBC; Tweeters charged him with assorted evils; the Wall Street Journal quickly ran an OpEd titled “High-Frequency Hyperbole” in which Clifford Asness and Michael Mendelson from hedge fund AQR Capital – the ultimate in trustworthy sources — attempted to move folks along, nothing to see here, with the emphatic proclamation that “The stock market isn’t rigged…” The cold, hard facts backed by 80 years of copious documentation, like cancelled checks from the 1930s’ Senate hearings, where business … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: April 2, 2014 During this past Sunday evening’s 60 Minutes segment on how high frequency traders in combination with stock exchanges selling high-speed access have rigged the stock market, one stock exchange was called out by name: BATS. The program explored charges made in bestselling author, Michael Lewis’ new book, “Flash Boys.” Yesterday, the President of BATS Global Markets, Inc., William (Bill) O’Brien appeared on CNBC to debate Michael Lewis and the young entrepreneur featured in his book, Brad Katsuyama, who has opened the IEX trading platform that promises to level the playing field by putting in speed bumps that slow down high frequency traders. O’Brien came out of the gate hurling charges at Lewis and Katsuyama for making false accusations, spreading fear, and scaring investors. O’Brien repeatedly interrupted when Lewis and Katsuyama attempted to speak, jabbed his fingers in the air at Katsuyama and appeared generally … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: April 1, 2014 Two of the chief culprits of aiding and abetting high frequency traders, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq stock exchange, failed to come under scrutiny in the much heralded 60 Minutes broadcast on how the stock market is rigged. This past Sunday night, 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft sat down with noted author Michael Lewis to discuss his upcoming book, “Flash Boys,” and its titillating revelations about how high frequency traders are fleecing the little guy. Kroft says to Lewis: “What’s the headline here?” Lewis responds: “Stock market’s rigged. The United States stock market, the most iconic market in global capitalism is rigged.” Kroft then asks Lewis to state just who it is that’s rigging the market. (This is where you need to pay close attention.) Lewis responds that it’s a “combination of these stock exchanges, the big Wall Street banks and high-frequency … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 31, 2014 “All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power” by former Wall Street veteran, Nomi Prins, is a seminal addition to the history of continuity government between the White House and Wall Street from the days of Teddy Roosevelt and the Panic of 1907 right up through the Panic of 2008 and the Presidency of Barack Obama. (Don’t be intimidated by the 69 pages of footnotes; while meticulously researched, this is a captivating read for anyone seeking clarity on why Wall Street can collapse, get bailed out by the taxpayer, cause a Great Recession and still call the shots in Washington.) The hefty hardcover deserves instant classic status for two reasons: like no other tome before, it explains through original archival material why the mega Wall Street banks are coddled by Washington and have been allowed to survive a century of public … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 27, 2014 It only took three press releases over as many days but the Federal Reserve finally spit out the truth yesterday on its stress tests of the big banks: Citigroup, the largest bank bailout recipient of 2008, still doesn’t have its house in order more than five years later. How many more years of economic malaise will it take before the delusional Fed admits to the public that only the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, separating banks holding insured deposits from gambling casinos on Wall Street, will put our financial system back on sound footing? The Fed’s comments on Citigroup yesterday included the following: “While Citigroup has made considerable progress in improving its general risk-management and control practices over the past several years, its 2014 capital plan reflected a number of deficiencies in its capital planning practices, including in some areas that had been previously … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 26, 2014 There’s a few Golden Rules that most Wall Street traders intuitively know never to cross: “Don’t fight the Fed,” “Cut your losses short and let your profits run,” “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel,” and the one coined just last week: “Don’t bet against the folks with a military budget larger than the next ten biggest spenders combined.” Of course, traders have egos and can sometimes forget the basics. The London Whale traders at JPMorgan elected not to cut their losses short and let them run to $6.2 billion, which led to press ink by the barrel, multiple Congressional hearings, indictments of traders, a $920 million settlement by JPMorgan and the trials have yet to start. Now, once again, it seems that common sense has escaped the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street. Last Tuesday, Jay Carney, … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 25, 2014 Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an in-depth review by two financial experts on when one should begin taking Social Security benefits – at age 62 at a reduced rate; at age 70 when one qualifies for the maximum payment based on salary history; or at some point in between? The article gets off on fine footing, explaining the basics: “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that how long you live is one of the biggest factors in determining whether your decision is the right one. To calculate a person’s monthly payments, the Social Security Administration looks at lifetime earnings, their age when they start to collect, and their average life expectancy at that age. Say you are a 65-year-old man who starts receiving benefits. Up until the age of 84 (your average life expectancy), you will have earned more in total than if you … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 24, 2014 Families of young JPMorgan Chase workers who have experienced tragic deaths over the past four months, have been kept in the dark on many details, including the fact that the bank most likely held a life insurance policy on their loved one – payable to itself. Banks in the U.S., as well as other corporations, are allowed to make multi-billion dollar wagers that their profits from life insurance policies on employees will outstrip the cost of paying premiums and other fees. Early deaths help those wagers pay off. According to the December 31, 2013 financial filing known as the Call Report that JPMorgan made with Federal regulators, it has tied up $10.4 billion in illiquid, long term bets on the death of a large segment of its employees. The program is known among regulators as Bank Owned Life Insurance or BOLI. … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 20, 2014 The head of the Bank of England (BOE), Mark Carney, who also chairs the G20’s Financial Stability Board, has a very different view from the U.S. Fed on how to exit stimulus programs. Carney is credited with successfully guiding Canada, where he previously served as head of the central bank, through the worst of the global financial crisis from 2008 to 2010. Does Carney know something that monetary policy wonks in the U.S. don’t or does the Fed know something the rest of us don’t? In her debut press conference yesterday after taking the reins at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on February 3 of this year, Janet Yellen jolted markets with the assessment that the Fed’s mammoth, monthly bond buying program, known as quantitative easing (QE), might end as early as this fall. Then, when asked how long after that the Fed … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 19, 2014 Kenneth Bellando, age 28, was found outside his East Side apartment building on March 12 in what the New York Post is calling “an apparent suicide” despite an ongoing police investigation into the matter. The building from which Bellando allegedly jumped was only six stories – by no means ensuring that death would result – providing the police with an additional reason to investigate for foul play. The young Bellando, who had previously worked for JPMorgan Chase himself, was the brother of John Bellando, who was named in the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ report on how JPMorgan had hid losses and lied to regulators in the London Whale derivatives trading debacle that resulted in losses of at least $6.2 billion. Congressional outrage was heightened by the fact that JPMorgan was gambling in London in high risk and illiquid derivatives using … Continue reading →